The Migrant Chef

In The Migrant Chef, Mexico-City based journalist Laura Tillman explores the story of Eduardo “Lalo” García Guzmán. Born in rural Mexico, he and his family left for the United States when he was a child, picking fruits and vegetables on the migrant route from Florida to Michigan. Based on five years of immersive reporting on Lalo’s story, Tillman traces the story from Máximo’s kitchen to the onion fields of Vidalia, Georgia, to Dubai’s first high-end Mexican restaurant, to Lalo’s hometown of San José de las Pilas. The book paints a portrait of Lalo’s struggle to find authenticity in an industry built on the very inequalities that drove his family to leave their home, and of the artistic process as Lalo calls on the experiences of his life to create transcendent cuisine. 

Join New America's Future Security Program for a discussion with Laura Tillman, author of The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García. Tillman began her career as a newspaper reporter at the U.S.–Mexico border in 2007, before moving to Mexico City in 2014. Her reporting, which focuses primarily on migration, justice, and food, has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Nation.

Participants: 

Laura Tillman

Author, The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García

Moderator:

Peter Bergen, @peterbergencnn

Vice President, New America

Co-Director, Future Security Initiative, Arizona State University

Professor of Practice, ASU

This is a partnered event with: